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Channels | |
Branding | Q2; MTN News |
Programming | |
Network | Montana Television Network |
Affiliations |
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Ownership | |
Owner |
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History | |
First air date | November 9, 1953 |
Former call signs | KOOK-TV (1953–1972) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 2 (VHF, 1953–2009) |
Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 35694 |
ERP | 26.1 kW |
HAAT | 180 m (591 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 45°46′0.9″N 108°27′28.8″W / 45.766917°N 108.458000°W |
Translator(s) | see § Translators |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
KTVQ (channel 2) is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is part of the Montana Television Network, a statewide network of CBS-affiliated stations. KTVQ's studios are located on Third Avenue North in Billings, and its transmitter is located on Sacrifice Cliff southeast of downtown.
Channel 2 began broadcasting as KOOK-TV on November 9, 1953. It was the first station in Billings and the third in the state of Montana, built by radio station KOOK; it was a CBS affiliate from the outset. The Montana Network, the original owner, sold the KOOK stations to Joe Sample in 1956, and they moved into the present KTVQ studios in 1959. Sample's acquisitions of KXLF-TV in Butte 1961 and KRTV in Great Falls in 1969 formed the basis of the Montana Television Network; KOOK radio was sold off in 1973, and channel 2 changed its call sign to KTVQ.
While the network was nominally headquartered in Billings, the network's split regional news format used Great Falls as a hub. As a result of the newscast style implemented by Sample, channel 2 sank in the local news ratings against the all-local newscasts on competitor KULR-TV. Coinciding with Sample's sale of the MTN stations to SJL, Inc., in 1984, the network newscasts shifted to Billings and were eventually phased out altogether. In 1987, KTVQ overtook KULR-TV in local news ratings and became the dominant station in the market.